The country’s industrialists are not taking well to submit the proposal to the regulatory body Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to increase the price of gas. They say that if the price of gas goes up, the cost of production will go up. The reversal of the epidemic economy will also be hampered.
At the first meeting of the FBCCI’s Standing Committee on Power, Energy and Utilities, held at the FBCCI office on Wednesday (January 19th), traders expressed concern over the move to increase gas prices.
During the meeting, FBCCI senior vice-president Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu stressed the need to start gas exploration activities in a big way and said that if Bapex could not do it alone, drilling of exploration wells should be accelerated in a joint venture with the private sector.
Abul Kashem Khan, director-in-charge of the standing committee and director of the FBCCI, said, “Import dependence in the energy sector is increasing in the country, which is not safe for the future. It is important to harness domestic resources to ensure long-term energy security and sustain industrialization.”
FBCCI director MD. Nasser said, “traders were being deprived of the benefits of power generation due to extreme mismanagement of the distribution system.”
Journalist Mollah M Amzad Hossain, a member of the standing committee, said, “the management of distribution companies should be left to the private sector to bring order in the sector. The government should dig at least 100 more wells for oil and gas exploration. In addition, gas and electricity connections to outside industries need to be maintained until the economic zones are fully developed.”